Islefaye's Kitchen

chipped beef with a twist

2009-08-13T10:10:00.001-07:00

I had some leftover cornbread that I had added cheddar cheese and bacon to and a craving for something kinda like chipped beef on toast....

so I made some alfredo sauce
then I took a wedge of the cornbread and sliced it in half
laid some pieces of virginia ham sandwich meat on top of the cornbread
ladled the alfredo sauce over that
put a piece of pepper jack cheese on top and microwaved the whole thing til the cheese was melted

it hit the spot lol

Enhanced corn muffins

2009-06-07T09:28:00.001-07:00

I used a complete corn muffin mix which required only the addition of 1/2 cup milk or water

and instead I added

1/2 jalapeno pepper, chopped
chopped fresh cilantro
~ 1/3 cup shredded mexican cheese
~ 1/3 cup sour cream
~ 1/3 cup milk

and cooked according to package directions which was 15-20 min. at 400 degrees

These were very good.

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Pan Fried Steak with Hot Sauce

2009-06-07T09:23:00.001-07:00

Add a small amount (1 T) of olive oil to pan and a chopped clove of garlic
pan fry the steak at high heat until perfectly done to your liking or perfectly not done to your liking lol

I used about 1/2 cup of leftover fresh salsa and another 1/2 jalapeno pepper sliced tossed in the hot pan after removing the steak, once this 'stuff' had loosened all the good pan drippings and reduced a little bit I added about 1/2 cup of a slurry to that mixture (slurry - about 1 T flour mixed well with 1/2 cup water), this thickened the sauce nicely and I then added a heaping T of sour cream

Yum

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Cast Iron & What to do with lots of Chicken

2009-06-05T08:47:00.001-07:00

This post may be a little bit stranger than my average post and well... we're all strange but strange is relative... lol

ok
Lots of chicken to cook 'whole cut up frozen chicken 4-5 lbs' worth of lots of chicken to cook.

1/2 of it gets browned in a cast iron dutch oven with only 1 T olive oil and a chopped clove of garlic and all the chicken gets salted and peppered as it browns. Then put the lid on the dutch oven and put it in a preheated 350 degree oven for 1 hour.

Looks like this when it comes out

and chicken like this needs rice and gravy

and stir fried veggies

the rest of the chicken went in this pot

and got turned into soup, chicken salad sandwiches, and added to bread pizza

the soup used the leftover rice and stir fried veggies too :)

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pizza sauce

2009-05-14T06:25:00.001-07:00

take these ingredients:
can of whole tomatoes, chopped clove garlic, basil, oregano, salt, pepper
and
cook the tomatoes with the garlic and spices until enough liquid cooks out of the tomatoes for it to reach a sauce consistency... I tear the tomatoes apart when I first dump them in the pot, do this by small pieces carefully or you'll squeeze tomato stuff all over yourself... lol

of course if the tomatoes are already diced there is no need to tear them apart...

this time I did something a little different as well...

I used my new magic bullet blender and pureed my pizza sauce... mmmm

Bread Pizza

2009-05-14T06:19:00.000-07:00

the ingredients:

once again I'm using my homemade pizza sauce

the bread is from the day old (~ lol) discount bread rack at the store which is a great deal as long you use it up in time before it molds of course

I've chopped up Canadian bacon and sausage (~well pork patties) and green pepper and onion

just spread the sauce on the bread and add whatever you've got chopped up

Then add your cheese and I've added some crushed up dried leeks and sprinkled some marjoram on top - marjoram can used in place of oregano

put your pans in the oven on broil and cook just until the cheese is melted and the edges of the bread are browned to your liking

time to eat!

The Turkey Burger Experiment!

2009-02-22T17:20:00.001-08:00

Ok this is one of those 'use what you have' to try and 'make something great' experiments.

And, of course

I had some things that really needed to be used like

these buns that had been shoved in the freezer lol. So I thawed them out on the counter all day.

I took a can of diced tomatoes and made my pizza sauce, the same way I've made it for my:
Pizza Chicken Dinner

and my

Easy Homemade Pizza

which is:
take these ingredients:
can of whole tomatoes, chopped clove garlic, basil, oregano, salt, pepper
and
cook the tomatoes with the garlic and spices until enough liquid cooks out of the tomatoes for it to reach a sauce consistency... I tear the tomatoes apart when I first dump them in the pot, do this by small pieces carefully or you'll squeeze tomato stuff all over yourself... lol

of course if the tomatoes are already diced there is no need to tear them apart...

this time I did something a little different as well...

I used my new magic bullet blender and pureed my pizza sauce... mmmm

I also used part of a box of turkey stuffing mix (~2/3 of the pack, a small part of which I turned into fine crumbs with the magic bullet) which makes this experiment a lot like my:
Turkey Stuffing Meatloaf Muffins

but I have to say this turned out much tastier, which may lead me to re-vamp that recipe at some time.

Ok, so I was also trying to use up a can of spinach.... now I love spinach, but canned spinach... not so much, couldn't figure out how to make it part of a tasty dish... So I did use a big heaping tablespoon of the canned spinach, I also used 2 heaping tablespoons of the pizza sauce, I also used dried vegetables, (the soup blend) and dried leeks from the San Francisco Herb Co., salt, pepper, mustard seeds, garlic salt

also this was ground turkey in a tube like sausage and it was frozen. I used my microwave's poultry defrost setting with the turkey on a plate with the metal ends sliced off, worked fine

so here it is with the first round of stuff to mix in... and then after

and I decided that wasn't nearly enough stuff....

so here we go with a second round of more added in

and I decided that was much more the way it needed to be and started pattying out burgers

since this is turkey, I added a little olive oil to the skillet and heated the oil before adding the burgers

the burgers browned pretty fast and I wasn't sure about them being done on the inside so I nuked each plate of burgers for 1 minute on high to make sure

getting ready to toast the buns - because I decided that might add to the flavor

I also made some key lime cajun mayo

also I had some onion sliced up really thin and at the last minute decided to saute most of it :)

so here we are at the end of the experiment with the finished product

:)

at that point I just threw chips on the plate and ate lol, I have to say it was really good.

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Cocoa

2009-02-11T18:05:00.001-08:00

I've been meaning to hit the library's book sale room whenever I had a spare $10 in my pocket lol, but those have been few and far between since moving :). But it finally happened the other day and I remembered to take/make the time to do it before my son got out of school, so I could look at my own pace :D

So I picked up a couple of Coffee table size cookbooks with lots of pictures... the kind I like best lol. A smattering of other books too :).

In this one I came across a recipe for making your own cocoa mix :). Knowing that this springlike weather is not going to last and seeing as how I had all the ingredients except for the marshmallows... it seemed like a good idea at the time.

so I made both the plain cocoa mix and the mocha cocoa mix :)

Ah well, I was hoping that picture of the recipe would show up a bit better but anyway that was:
1 3/4 cup instant nonfat dry milk powder
1 cup powdered sugar (it calls for sifted - but I mixed all the ing. with a whisk and it worked fine)
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp cinnamon (I left this out just because....)
2/3 cup miniature marshmallows (left out because I didn't have them)

for the mocha cocoa the book says to omit the marshmallows and add 1/4 cup instant coffee granules to hot cocoa mix. (I also left the cinnamon out of that batch too, just made the above and added the instant coffee)

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Microwave Polenta Bread

2009-01-14T20:16:00.001-08:00

I wanted something like cornbread but a little different and I wanted to start really using my tupperwave microwave stack cooking set

for more than just reheating/warming foods in the microwave

I've had my stack cooker for some time and was also lucky enough to be given a cookbook to go with it, it's a spiral bound book with separated pages which allow you to pick out three different recipes to 'stack' cook at once if you wish

fast and fresh stack cooked meals

Anyway one of the recipes for the 'top' stack which you use the inverted lid for is the following:

sour cream cornbread
2/3 cup flour
2/3 cup corn meal
1 T sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp each baking soda and salt
1 egg slightly beaten
2 T solid vegetable shortening, melted
1/4 cup milk
4 strips crisp cooked bacon, crumbled
2 T snipped chives

In med. bowl stir together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in center of mixture, add egg, shortening, 1 cup of sour cream and the milk to the well stir until just combined, pour mixture into inverted casserole cover - to cook individually cook on medium (50%) 12-14 minutes until top is no longer wet and cornbread pulls away from side of casserole, the recipe called for more sour cream to be spread on top and then sprinkled with the bacon and chives

MY VERSION
Microwave polenta bread
2/3 cup bisquick
2/3 cup polenta
1 heaping T sugar
1 egg slightly beaten
1 T olive oil
1/4 cup milk
about 1/2 cup of sour cream

12 minutes on 50% was all it needed

we ate it with potato soup

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Party Mashed Potatoes

2009-01-12T21:14:00.001-08:00

I wish I could take credit for this idea. It turns instant mashed potatoes into something wonderful.

I used the following recipe with the modifications below.

Party Mashed potatoes

http://www.hungryjack.com/Recipes/Details.aspx?recipeID=2891

with the following changes...

-I had an off brand pack of instant potatoes that was only 10.? oz's
-I omitted 1 of the packs of cream cheese
-I only used 8 oz of sour cream
-I only used 1/2 stick of butter
-I omitted onion salt, milk and optional ingredients but I'm sure they'd be good lol

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White Chocolate Pumpkin Cheesecake

2009-01-12T21:04:00.001-08:00

One of the deserts I made for Thanksgiving was this recipe with the following modifications

http://www.recipezaar.com/No-Bake-Cheesecake-Pumpkin-Pie-26407

Modified version:
-I used a chocolate graham cracker crust
-white chocolate pudding instead of vanilla
-pretty sure I omitted the confectioner's sugar because I didn't have any at the time

It was a big hit

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Too easy Rice Pilaf

2008-10-16T09:24:00.001-07:00

The Knorr cilantro cubes in the box are a recent discovery and I am loving them. The bag of dried veggies came from the San Francisco Herb Co.

It's their dried soup blend.

For 1/2 pot of rice (1 cup water - 1/2 cup rice) I've been adding 2 teaspoons of the dried vegetables and 1 Knorr cilantro cube. As soon as the water starts to boil, add them before the rice. Stir well after adding the rice, then cover and simmer.

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Sausage macaroni

2008-10-15T09:04:00.001-07:00

Couldn't really decide on a good name for this. I had some fresh corn put up in the freezer. Some ranch dip. Some leftover sausage links.

cooked up some macaroni
boiled 2 ears of corn, cut it off the cob
crumbled up the sausage
mixed it all together with the dip and a knorr cilantro cube
added a little salt, pepper, and california style garlic salt

Not bad...

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Sprouts

2008-10-15T08:59:00.001-07:00

grow your own sprouts in your kitchen cabinet :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprouting

http://www.isga-sprouts.org/

lots of information out there about how to do this but here are my simple instructions:

using a pint size wide mouth jar and a lid similar to the one shown in the above wikipedia article but without the thing that allows the jar to continue draining on its side...

I use a tablespoon of the seeds - (I'm using a mixed blend of seeds I bought at a health food store). Dump those in the jar and add water to cover. Allow to soak overnight, sitting on the counter. The next day drain off the water and dry off the jar and set it in the kitchen cabinet. Every day take the jar out of the cabinet, fill with water, swirl it around and drain the water again. Dry off the jar and place it back in the cabinet. When sprouts are fully sprouted (~4-5 days) move them to the fridge (in a baggie, or tupperware like container - whatever), clean your jar and start some more lol.

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Turkey Stuffing Meatloaf Muffins

2008-09-30T13:49:00.001-07:00

Okay I googled for a recipe for these - found a lot of them. Printed out one to go by from recipezaar. But it seemed kind of plain.

Here is that recipe as is/was:

Meatloaf Muffins with Stove Top Stuffing

1 (6 ounce) box Stove Top stuffing mix (any flavor is fine)
2 eggs
1 cup water
2 lbs ground beef or turkey

Mix all ingredients.
Spray muffin tins with Pam
Fill muffin tins to top
Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes

My Changes

Intentional

I used only 1 lb of ground turkey, my Stove Top mix was turkey as well.
I heated my cup of water and dropped a chicken bouillon cube and a cilantro bouillon cube into it.
I chopped up a fresh clove of garlic and about 1/4 cup of onion and green pepper and added that.
I also added salt, pepper, garlic salt, basil, and oregano

Unintentional
I had planned to use an amount of 'better than eggs' product equal to one egg, not two as the recipe called for, but I forgot to add any at all - it was quite good and didn't fall apart...so I was rather happy with my mistake.

The results :)

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Broccoli soup

2008-07-11T14:23:00.001-07:00

chop up a nice head of broccoli in a pot of water with a chopped onion, cook until tender, mash with a potato masher

add a chicken bouillon cube, salt, pepper, California style garlic salt, butter, and cubed velveeta to taste

if you'd like it a bit thicker you can melt some butter in a smaller pan - add flour, cook that up a bit, mix a little water with that and add it to your soup pot as a thickener, & you could always add a dash of milk if desired

I use to throw this in a blender or use one of those all purpose mixers to pretty much puree it, but that's a step I usually omit these days to save myself some dishes, some water, and some precious time lol

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Purple Artichokes with garlic mayo

2008-07-11T14:16:00.001-07:00

Boil artichokes in large pot of water with some butter (I used smart choice blend) some California style garlic salt and a squeeze of lemon juice if you have it, until tender, it can take up to an hour for several large artichokes, remove from pot with large tongs and drain upside down on paper towels.

Chop fresh garlic into some mayo (I used smart choice mayo too), stir that up and put back in the fridge until you are ready for it.

Remove the paper towels, turn the artichokes over and mash down on them to make them 'bloom'

Enjoy your snack :)
If you've never eaten an artichoke, what you do is pull off a leaf, dip the bottom of the leaf into your dip and scrape the soft inner part of the leaf off with your bottom teeth and toss the rest of the leaf...
when you get down to the heart - remember to remove the fluffy choke part - it usually pulls off quite nicely - then slice up the heart and fight over it lol.

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Stuffed summer squash

2008-07-11T13:33:00.001-07:00

Start with a cooked pot of rice, some cooked sausage, and whatever else you think would be good in a pot of dirty rice. Crumble some sausage into the rice, add some chopped onion, chopped green pepper is good, shredded cheese of your choice, spices to taste, salt, pepper, California blend garlic salt, steakhouse grind, Mrs. dash etc - Not necessarily all of those but whatever turns you on at the time. Mix the rice thoroughly.

(oh god don't look at the side of my stove - yes I am ashamed, but I use the time I could be cleaning the side of the stove to read to my son, or take walks with him... really! Of course now I'll have to clean it lol)

Take your pick of zucchini or yellow summer squash - big enough specimens to stuff of course... slice lengthwise and scoop out the seeds (feed those to the chickens if you have some lol) stuff the squash with your dirty rice mixture

and top with slices of bacon

Bake at 350 degrees until bacon is crisp and squash is tender. Cut larger squash such as these in sections to serve.

Enjoy!

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Pizza Chicken Dinner

2008-06-28T07:36:00.001-07:00

ok, yeah I was playing with food again, and not just playing but more like mad scientist experimentation....

After digging around in the "pantry" I assembled this combination of ingredients

french bread
can of whole tomatoes
fresh garlic
basil
oregano
the rest of the pizza cheese from my homemade pizza
onion
green pepper
a portobella mushroom
2 oversized boneless frozen chicken breasts (the end of big bag of frozen chicken breasts)

I put the chicken in a pot of water as if I were going to make something else like chicken & dumplings or soup... , chopped some garlic in with it and cooked the chicken

put the can of tomatoes in a pot (picked apart by hand), added chopped garlic, basil, oregano, salt and pepper, cooked that down to pizza sauce just like I do for my homemade pizza

when the chicken and the pizza sauce were done I tore the chicken into strips and put it in a big microwave bowl, put the pizza sauce on top of that and then the pizza cheese, popped it in the microwave for 3 minutes

measured the broth from the chicken cooking pot and added enough water to cook a box of couscous, used the same pot to cook the couscous

sauteed the mushroom in a small skillet (so my son would eat the peppers and onions lol)

sauteed the onion and pepper in a big skillet

sliced the bread, buttered it, chopped more fresh garlic onto it and toasted it in the oven

Made a bed of couscous on each plate, placing a portion of the pizza chicken on 1/2 of it and the onions & peppers & mushrooms on the other 1/2 (except no mushrooms on my sons plate lol) he's in a no mushroom phase...

add bread and eat - yummy - couldn't have turned out better if I'd actually known what I was gonna do to start with

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Cherry Muffins

2008-06-15T17:32:00.001-07:00

This is Betty Crocker's muffin recipe for blueberry muffins, I just substitute the cherries..., can't wait til the blueberries are in :)

....

2 cups self rising flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg ( I use 1/4 cup better'n eggs no chol...)
1/2 cup oil ( I use olive )
3/4 cup milk
1 cup frozen cherries

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Breakfast of weirdo's

2008-06-14T07:43:00.001-07:00

Vanilla yogurt,
Cheerio's crunch,
& frozen cherries

be careful eating frozen berries, cherries, etc... please....

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Easy Homemade Pizza

2008-06-12T15:39:00.001-07:00

Pre-made crust (they also store well for future use)
can of whole tomatoes, chopped clove garlic, basil, oregano, salt, pepper
pizza toppings
pizza cheese

oops I forgot the pepperoni... before I took this last picture

cook the tomatoes with the garlic and spices until enough liquid cooks out of the tomatoes for it to reach a sauce consistency... I tear the tomatoes apart when I first dump them in the pot, do this by small pieces carefully or you'll squeeze tomato stuff all over yourself... lol

spread sauce on pizza crust, add toppings, and cheese, bake following directions on your pre-made crust.

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Grilled Mustard Chicken

2008-06-07T14:12:00.001-07:00

Slather chicken with spicy brown mustard and mustard seeds

Salt and Pepper the chicken after you get it on the grill.

Yum

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Key Lime Cajun Mayo

2008-04-30T16:18:00.001-07:00

I'm always looking for a new way to flavor fish... usually tilapia, because it's usually the cheapest...
Last night I mixed up some mayo, some key lime juice, some cajun spice mix, pepper, and sea salt, slathered the fish with that and baked it. Yummy!

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Pork Roast in a Pot

2008-04-24T12:54:00.001-07:00

Brown the pork roast in the pot with a little olive oil and some chopped fresh garlic, salt and pepper to taste.

Cover with water, add, carrots, onions, dried mushrooms, cook it all day so that it's so tender it falls apart. Make sure you keep enough water in the pot. Later on add some potatoes, and give them time to cook.

So here's what it all looks like in the pot when it's done cooking

Take most everything out of the pot, but leave a little bit of everything in the pot for making the gravy.

I use a soup ladle to scoop a bowl of the liquid out of the pot, and mix my flour into that using a pampered chef gravy whisk that is awesome, then I take a potato masher to all the stuff left in the pot, and then stir my flour mixture back into the pot. So the gravy comes out looking like this with little bits of the whole thing in it....
for this meal I also made some tricolor couscous

and stir fried some onions, greens, and savoy

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Chicken Quesadilla

2008-03-12T09:55:00.000-07:00

This was just thrown together out of leftovers from a Chicken dinner consisting of Chicken tenders browned in a pan with a nice little sauce, sauteed peppers and onions, and portobello mushrooms.

The leftovers:

Leftover Chicken, peppers, onions & mushrooms are chopped on a gourmet spinach and vegetable flour tortilla, then topped with the shredded cheese and another tortilla, microwave for 1 minute, cut in fourth's or eighth's. Enjoy.

Egg White Omelets

2008-01-26T14:07:00.000-08:00

Ever make a face when somebody says 'Egg White Omelet'? Try mine :)

ok, to get ready...

I spray my pan with Pam then add a little smart balance butter

Have all your ingredients ready:

My cat's love me when I make these, because they get the egg yolks.

Pour two egg whites into the skillet

Once the egg white begins to firm up, sprinkle a little chopped onion on one side

When the egg whites are firmed up to a certain degree, you should shake the skillet to make sure the omelet is not stuck to the pan. You may have to experiment with the temperature on your stove eye and practice some. It took me a while before I could do this consistently and with ease… On my current stove eye somewhere between 4 and 5 is the perfect temperature.

Then add a few spoonfuls of some previously micro-waved green giant creamed spinach

Add a slice of pepper jack cheese and fold over the omelet

If you are busy with other parts of a meal it is okay to set the skillet off the eye at this point as the omelet will continue to cook from the heat of the pan - the omelet is pretty much done but the pepper jack continues to melt.

Removing the omelet from the pan may also take you some practice. Make sure the omelet is not stuck to the pan, get your spatula under the omelet and take your pan to your plate and drag the omelet along with the spatula while tipping up your pan to facilitate the effort. Remember if you are cooking more omelets, and you dribble some buttery stuff down the outside edge of your pan… you’ll want to wipe that off the pan before placing the pan back on the stove… unless you like messy stove eyes lol… I don’t like to clean them myself. Also if you get any other bits of omelet left behind in the skillet and you are planning to make more omelets it is probably best to wipe out the pan with paper towels and begin again, with another spray of pam. If necessary, wash & dry the skillet and then begin again.

I garnished the omelet with a little shredded colby jack cheese, some real bacon bits, and a little fresh ground pepper.

This is one of my favorite egg white omelets but you can put anything you want in the omelet… experiment, and have fun. Our dinner last night was egg white omelets, frozen pancakes (microwaved), and thinly sliced apples.

They were so good I had to have another today. Today's egg white omelet was prepared the same but served with a frozen blueberry waffle cooked in the toaster oven and toast.

Last nights dinner - Indoor grilled Chicken w/gifts from the garden in December...

2007-12-16T10:55:00.000-08:00

Ok this is the whole dinner, not just the chicken...

so anyway the Chicken was coated with balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing and then sprinkled with the california style garlic salt, fresh ground peppercorns and sea salt, then grilled indoors, for which you do need an indoor grill and a place next to a window or an exhaust fan of whatever kind.... you can see my ugly one behind/above the stove...

so once the chicken is almost done, and you don't want the outside to get any crunchier... I unplug the grill and put an aluminum foil tent over the chicken so it continues to cook for a little while - while I'm working on other stuff....

so I had baked potato's in the oven and I like mine with crunchy hulls so I cook them longer than most people do... :) - so anyway I went outside to see if there were any chives left for this year, and got the very last of them til they come back out next spring.... :) I love my chives, especially when they bloom - you can eat those blooms too :). so here's the potato's with the last of the fresh chives for this year

while I was out getting the chives I found some other goodies...
the parsley was surviving in spite of drought and neglect...

not only that, but there were green onions to be had...

now the last part was just a simple frozen green giant vegetable medley, done in the marvelous microwave and spooned right out of the package it was cooked in... :)

then I added a little bowl of ranch dressing dip, a green onion, and some fresh cut carrot sticks that I had been munching on while I cooked :)

and dinner turned out really great

oh yeah and a few sprigs of the surviving flat leaved italian parsley, I like it so much better than the curly variety :)

Corn Casserole

2007-11-08T11:48:00.001-08:00

16 oz can cream corn
16 oz can whole kernal corn
1 cup sour cream
2 eggs slightly beaten
2 tsp. sugar
1 stick margarine, melted
1 pkg corn muffin mix (can use mexican style)
2 cups grated cheddar cheese (or 4 cheese mexican)

Combine corns, sour cream, & eggs. Add sugar and butter. Stir in muffin mix and half the cheese. Pour into large ungreased (I spray mine) casserole dish.

Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes (depends on size of dish, if deep it can take up to an hour) until top is lightly brown. Remove from oven, top with remaining cheese, return to oven just long enough to melt cheese.

Shrimp and Pesto Pasta

2007-10-29T19:39:00.000-07:00

Made it up as I went along...

Shrimp and Pesto Pasta
Prepare angel hair pasta and add a generous/to taste amount of fresh pesto.

Prepare bacon, set aside.

Heat precooked shrimp in butter.

Prepare a garlic white sauce with a dash of nutmeg in it.

Layer the Plate:

Start with the pesto noodles
Top that with white sauce.
Sprinkle a portion of shrimp on top of that.
Crumble bacon on top next
Chop a small/medium amount of fresh tomato
Sprinkle fresh grated parmesan over all.

enjoy

Stuffing Baked Chicken

2007-10-29T19:35:00.000-07:00

3 boneless chicken breasts

1 stuffing mix (I used italian)

clove of garlic

1/3 c butter

tsp lemon juice or juice from 1/2 fresh lemon (optional)

salt, pepper

preheat oven to 350°

divide stuffing mix in half - set aside 1/2 (prepare other 1/2 as directed cutting other ing. by 1/2)

spray glass pan with pam, add butter and put pan in oven til butter melts, remove pan from oven, chop garlic into butter and add lemon juice if desired, dip both sides of chicken in butter and add to pan. Add salt and pepper (you could also add other herbs here - chopped fresh chives, a sprinkle of oregano...) sprinkle the chicken with the set aside stuffing mix and then sprinkle generously(but not too much) with the good(fresh - not the powdery kind) 3 cheese parmesan/romano/asiago kraft shredded cheese blend. Bake for 40 min to 1hr or more depending on the size of chicken pieces. I have also used bone in breasts before, works great just make sure you cook the chicken long enough. Add a salad, makes a great fairly easy dinner.

Note: I usually like this crunchy - hence no added water once it's all in the pan, If I am sharing with others or not wanting it so crunchy you can add some water up to the amount appropriate for 1/2 pack of stuffing

Chicken Ravioli Soup

2007-10-29T19:33:00.000-07:00

I got this from a free walmart calendar. My version went like this: I started with a raw, frozen chicken breast in a small soup pot filled with water, cooked the chicken with a clove of chopped garlic and about 1 small sliced onion, added 1 cube of chicken bouillon, removed the chicken when cooked and pulled it into pieces and returned to the pot. Added two heaping tablespoons of vegetable dip & soup mix, brought to a boil, and added about 12 - 16 cheese ravioli's, turn down to about 3 not all the way to low to simmer til ravioli is done. Was good :)

Tilapia

2007-10-29T19:32:00.001-07:00

This is supposedly the fish that Jesus fed the multitudes.

It's also cheap and good lol. Freezer section @ IGA has packages w/~6 filets 4 2.99...

Had it the other night and wanted to do something different ... lol with limited supplies... what? - I wanted some crunch to it somehow. In a glass pan sprayed with pam I spread mayo on each fish filet, then squeezed 1/2 lemon over all three filets. Put some salad croutons in a baggie and used the bottom of a glass to smash them into crumbs, sprinkled over the fish and baked til done. It really was good, we had couscous & sauteed onions & peppers with it. The peppers were frozen and from my mother-in-law's garden. :) mustard mixed with the mayo would have been good too...

Even better Tilapia

2007-10-29T19:31:00.001-07:00

Pan Fried Tilapia

4-6 tilapia fillets

3 tablespoons flour

4 tablespoons peanut oil

4 tablespoons butter

1 lemon juiced

1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley

salt and pepper to taste

Season tilapia with salt and pepper. Dust portions lightly with flour.

Sauté the fish in peanut oil until they are nicely browned and cooked all the way through (about 2-3 minutes per side).

When done, remove Tilapia, drain oil, add lemon juice, butter and parsley. Whisk to blend. Pour over Tilapia and serve.

Serves 4.

Did a search for Pan Fried Tilapia and the above recipe was the first one I looked at. I used Olive Oil and didn't have parsley - served it with Fried Green Tomatoes - will post my version of that soon :) and corn sauteed in butter with green pepper, red onion & spinach. Made a great dinner.

Fried Green Tomatoes

2007-10-29T19:27:00.000-07:00

What you need:

Cornmeal, salt, pepper, sugar, milk, green tomatoes, olive oil

heat a few tbsp of olive oil in skillet just under med high heat probably lol

slice the green tomato put some cornmeal 1/4 - 1/3 cup? lol in a bowl, pour a splash of milk in a different bowl 1/4 cup? maybe lol

dip tomato slices in milk then coat with cornmeal sprinkle with sugar salt and pepper and place in hot oil, turn when browned and remove to plate with paper towel when done

dinner suggestion: we had these last night with the pan fried tilapia from my blog post: even better tilapia, and this potato galette recipe from epicurious: Potato Galettes

Cheese quesadilla

2007-10-29T19:21:00.000-07:00

melt a layer of 4 cheese mexican cheese blend between two flour tortillas in the microwave on microwave safe plate for 40 sec to 1 min depending on the size of the tortilla's, cut like a pizza serve with small bowl of salsa in the middle or ranch dressing for dip.

Chicken skillet

2007-10-29T19:18:00.000-07:00

nothing like making it all up as you go along

ingredients:

1 large boneless skinless chicken breast

1 carrot, long angled slices cut in half

1 garlic clove, chopped small

1 tbsp olive oil

2 sm to med green onions chopped

1 tbsp chopped fresh chives

1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

1 large tbsp veg. dip & soup mix

1/2 c rice

~1 tsp cajun spice blend or whatever u prefer

1 c water

salt & pepper to taste

heat oil & garlic, med to med high - cut chicken into chunks, add to skillet, add cajun spice, salt & pepper to taste - once chicken is no longer pink add carrots, cook and stir for another minute or 2, then add the rice and the dip mix, stir well until rice is coated well, add water - bring skillet to a boil, reduce heat to low - med low - cover & cook for 20 - 25 min

stir in chopped onion, chives, & parsley before serving

Creamy Crab Sauce

2007-10-29T19:01:00.000-07:00

This is one of my make it up as you go along favorites from years ago....

Melt 4 Tablespoons Butter in skillet on medium heat. Chop 1 clove garlic into butter as it melts. Add enough flour (doesn't matter what kind) to absorb butter and make a paste (not too thick). Stir and continue to cook until the mixture begins to look clear. Add about ¾ cup of milk and continue to stir. Pull apart the Louis Kemp crab meat (kinda in shreds) and add to skillet. If the sauce becomes to thick add enough water to achieve the desired consistency(continue to do this if and as needed). Add about 1/3 to ½ cup of parmesan cheese into the mixture. Season with salt and pepper and a dash of nutmeg if desired.

I like it best over angel hair pasta or no yolks dumpling egg noodles, also great on a piece of toast.... Top with more parmesan cheese. Could also top with fresh chopped green onions or chives, fresh parsley, crumbled bacon, chopped tomato.... if desired.

cholesterol dieting

2007-10-29T18:58:00.000-07:00

The doctor put me on a diet a while back to get my cholesterol level down. Really kind of simple and I didn't really follow the diet that well. But here's what I did:

limit eggs - no more than one egg yolk a week ( I make great egg-white omelets )

I only cook with olive oil and smart balance butter - the one exception to this is the occasional pot of chicken and dumplings which requires shortening to make the dumplings so I buy shortening in the smallest quantity and keep it in the fridge.

I buy smart balance peanut butter and mayo when I can find it

I quit trying to cook so much and we eat a lot of gourmet sandwiches(subway type toppings), soups, salads, baked potatoes, snack platters, etc., and try to buy more whole grain bread...

I buy only chicken or turkey sandwich meat about 95% of the time

we hardly ever have beef anymore - the occasional pot of chili or some spaghetti or whatever... but I probably decreased the amount of beef consumed in the house by 80% when I do cook meat, it is usually chicken or fish

I drink lots more water, some powerade, more milk and less soda, more tea

we still eat too much cheese and bacon, however I buy more provolone and reduced fat cheeses than before, we also eat the bacon as a condiment to a meal, crumbled on baked potatoes, salad, etc.

and this is probably the most important thing - take fish oil pills 3xday, am still trying to get good at taking all 3 every day lol. if you freeze those... there's no fishy problem...

oh yeah as a long time wic mother 95% of the cereal I buy is wic approved and I only buy 100% juice and REAL cheese.... didn't know what I was missing when I was a kid... one more side note,. this healthier eating is definitely more expensive...

so my cholesterol came down from the 240 range to the 190 range

I lost 43 lbs so far (this also decreases risk of heart attack and stroke from the severe obstructive sleep apnea factor) have to admit here that the weight loss is not entirely due to the cholesterol dieting, and that the walking to catch the school bus twice a day deserves some credit

in spite of all that hard work, my last visit to the dr. showed that my homocysteine levels were elevated which is yet another heart attack/stroke risk factor, good news is I can take a b12, a b6, & folic acid every day and it should bring that down. so now, faced with all that risk and the fact that while I was trying to limit risk from two directions, another risk factor popped up elsewhere... I realize I need to do more and am renewing my efforts to practice daily meditation, and yoga every now and then till it hurts less and for less time afterward lol then I'll step it up a little, and so on.

Cherry Yum Yum

2007-10-29T18:55:00.000-07:00

Credit for this one goes to my mother-in-law, and it's been around for about 30 years!

For crust use 1 1/2 sticks melted butter & 3 cups graham cracker crumbs. Mix crumbs and butter with a fork in the dish you've chosen for your completed cherry yum yum and mash into place evenly all over the bottom of the pan.

if using a square dish one 8 oz pack of cream cheese is probably enough, for rectangular dish you probably need two packs, let cream cheese sit out at room temp for awhile to soften.

For cream cheese mixture, mix 2 packs of dream whip according to package directions, add in the cream cheese, 3/4 cup sugar, & 1 tsp vanilla, and put on top of your crumb mixture. Top with 1 or 2 cans cherry pie filling. refridgerate.

gazpacho

2007-10-29T18:52:00.000-07:00

1 can whole peeled tomatoes
~1/2 cup chopped cucumber
~1/2 cup chopped green pepper
~1/2 cup chopped onion (purple's good)
dash of tabasco
1 tsp olive oil
salt & pepper to taste

you need a blender or a good food processor that can handle liquid save out 1/4 cup each of the cucumber, pepper, and onion for garnish, blend all the rest together. sometimes I like croutons with mine.